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Status: worked for Kaplan's associates, but now on my own, free and flying

Joined: 19 Feb 2007

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Location: India

WE: Education (Education)

There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of
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21 Feb 2014, 05:26

6

00:00

A

B

C

D

E

Difficulty:

75% (hard)

Question Stats:

55%(01:40) correct 45%(01:53) wrong based on 269 sessions

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There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated its historical importance and its literary eminence

(A) was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated

(B) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that has validated

(C) was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that has validated

(D) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy had ever existed or had been a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated

(E) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated

Re: There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of
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21 Feb 2014, 11:50

2

1

daagh wrote:

There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated its historical importance and its literary eminence

(A) was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated

(B) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that has validated

(D) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy had ever existed or had been a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated

(E) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated

OA and OE after 5 solutions

I think B.

If we replace "it" with "city of troy" in other choices, sentence doesn't make much sense to me.
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Re: There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of
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24 Feb 2014, 12:46

1

is it B ?

the use of 'until' suggest we need to use past perfect tense. hence we can get rid of A and CD and E seem to be using only past perfect tense which is wrong. That leaves us with B.Do correct me if I'm wrong.Cheers

Re: There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of
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24 Feb 2014, 18:14

1

2

There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated its historical importance and its literary eminence

(A) was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated

The phrase "whether... or... it" is not the correct idiom; The subordinating conjunction "until" indicates that a sequence of verbs is necessary, thus "was" should be had been"; the last verb "validation" continues to the present, so it should be present perfect tense. Incorrect

(B) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that has validated

I didn't like the phrase "whether...or," but everything else was an improvement from A.

Here's an improvement from A; irregardless, "until" requires a sequence of events reflected in the verbs.

(D) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy had ever existed or had been a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated

The verbs in the phrase "whether the city of Troy had ever existed or had been a figment" are incorrectly used because there is no reason for the past perfect. What did those events occur before?; furthermore, "had validated" is wrong because the clause requires the action to continue into the present.

(E) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated

Re: There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of
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25 Feb 2014, 05:17

3

1

daagh wrote:

There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated its historical importance and its literary eminence

(A) was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated

(B) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that has validated

(D) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy had ever existed or had been a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated

(E) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated

OA and OE after 5 solutions

There are two events that happened in the past : Debate and DiscoveryThe Debate took place before the Discovery, so a Past Perfect is required with "Debate" to show the sequence. Hence "had been" is the correct tense. This eliminates (A) and (C).

Now the Validation done as a result of the discovery still holds today and there are no sequence of events here so Past Perfect "had validated" is incorrect, which eliminates (D) and (E). A Present Perfect "has validated" is required here as the Validation happened in the past and it still holds.

This leaves us with (B), which is the correct answer.
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Re: There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of
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25 Feb 2014, 21:16

1

1

There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated its historical importance and its literary eminence

Re: There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of
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13 Mar 2014, 20:47

prasun9 wrote:

daagh wrote:

There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated its historical importance and its literary eminence

(A) was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated

(B) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that has validated

(D) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy had ever existed or had been a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated

(E) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated

OA and OE after 5 solutions

There are two events that happened in the past : Debate and DiscoveryThe Debate took place before the Discovery, so a Past Perfect is required with "Debate" to show the sequence. Hence "had been" is the correct tense. This eliminates (A) and (C).

Now the Validation done as a result of the discovery still holds today and there are no sequence of events here so Past Perfect "had validated" is incorrect, which eliminates (D) and (E). A Present Perfect "has validated" is required here as the Validation happened in the past and it still holds.

This leaves us with (B), which is the correct answer.

Sorry, but I doubt the use of past perfect, because " until the noted archaeologist" already shows that the debate happened before the discovery. Hence would go with A.
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Re: There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of
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14 Mar 2014, 05:00

prasun9 wrote:

daagh wrote:

There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated its historical importance and its literary eminence

(A) was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated

(B) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that has validated

(D) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy had ever existed or had been a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated

(E) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated

OA and OE after 5 solutions

There are two events that happened in the past : Debate and DiscoveryThe Debate took place before the Discovery, so a Past Perfect is required with "Debate" to show the sequence. Hence "had been" is the correct tense. This eliminates (A) and (C).

Now the Validation done as a result of the discovery still holds today and there are no sequence of events here so Past Perfect "had validated" is incorrect, which eliminates (D) and (E). A Present Perfect "has validated" is required here as the Validation happened in the past and it still holds.

This leaves us with (B), which is the correct answer.

I liked the way you handled the question. I had gone with option E, as I thought that validation was done in the past. I forgot to use the common sense. Thanks a very lucid explanation.

Re: There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of
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16 Oct 2018, 13:41

There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated its historical importance and its literary eminence

(A) was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that validated- There was a great debate....archaeologist discovered..both cannot happen at the same time. to show the sequence of events, we need "had been a great debate".- "discovery that validated" -> the discovery did not cease validating. Present prefect is required here.

(B) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that has validated - correct

(C) was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that has validated -There was a great debate....archaeologist discovered..both cannot happen at the same time. to show the sequence of events, we need "had been a great debate".

(D) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy had ever existed or had been a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated-The validation did not happen before the discovery

(E) had been a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of Troy ever existed or it was a figment of fiction, until the noted archaeologist Schliemann discovered in Turkey a site that many believe to be the ancient city of Troy, a discovery that had validated --The validation did not happen before the discovery
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Please +1 KUDO if my post helps. Thank you.

gmatclubot

Re: There was a great debate among Greek historians whether the city of &nbs
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16 Oct 2018, 13:41